A concerning rise in ambulance call outs for mental health issues, chest pain and breathing problems is a result of Covid-19 and prolonged lockdowns, say St Johns Ambulance. 

The months of July to December 2021 saw a 30% rise in mental health and suicide attempt incidents when compared to the previous year.

Dan Ohs, St John Deputy Chief Executive - Ambulance Operations, says the increase is concerning. 

“We continue to respond to very distressed and vulnerable patients but the most disturbing trend out of these types of incidents, is the number involving patients aged under 14.”

“This age group had a 36 percent increase in 2021 (up 49 patients to 186 patients) compared to the previous year (137 patients) and was 77 percent higher compared to 2019 (105 patients).”

St John also saw a notable increase in patients with chest pain and breathing problems – an increase of 15.5 percent and 14.4 percent respectively compared to 2020 – which along with the rise in mental health related callouts, they attribute to the direct impact of COVID-19 or COVID-19 lockdowns.

However, like 2020, the reduced movement of New Zealanders – particularly in Auckland due to extended lockdowns – resulted in fewer trauma related incidents.

St Johns says 2021 was another extremely busy year with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to create ongoing challenges across the emergency ambulance service.

“This prolonged significant demand is compounded by a challenging work environment due to COVID-19 and longer times for ambulance crews to complete 111 call-outs due to additional safety precautions that must be taken both at the scene, during transport and at hospital.”

“Our emergency call handlers responded to a significant number of calls in July and December last year - both recording more than 55,000 calls for each month. In December alone we recorded 56,692 calls – a 9.8 percent increase on December 2020,”

He says St John Ambulance is preparing for another challenging year ahead in 2022 as New Zealand moves from a pandemic response to Covid-19 to having endemic cases in the community.

“We’ve seen the impact of the Omicron variant in other parts of the world and it’s just a matter of time before we experience a widespread outbreak here in Aotearoa.”

“St Johns is well adept at responding to patients with infectious conditions and we have several contingency plans underway to lessen the impact it might have on our capability, including bolstering our recruitment and training efforts to bring on board more ambulance officers.”